It is the primary mission of the Residency Training Program at the University of Washington Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (UW Oto-HNS) to train residents who have the requisite research training, commitment, and experience to achieve successful and productive academic careers. Research training is an integral part of the Residency Training Program throughout the entire period of training. The proposed training grant supports full-time research training during one or more 1-year blocks for every resident, significant additional research time is set aside and protected during 2 of the four years of clinical training, and residents are required to continue research productivity during each year. Trainee positions not filled by resident physicians are awarded to MD post-residency fellows and PhD fellows recruited by Oto-HNS Program Faculty. A concerted effort is made to identify and train under-represented minority candidates. The program requires each resident to submit a research grant proposal to the Academy of Oto-HNS Foundation and for trainees performing 2 contiguous years, an individual NRSA proposal, in addition. The Program Faculty include seasoned researchers as well as junior faculty. The research programs of the Program Faculty focus primarily on three areas: auditory neuroscience, tumor cell biology, and outcomes research. Trainees can choose to participate in the vibrant interdisciplinary programs encompassed in the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center or in the other outstanding research programs housed at the UW, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. This Program provides a combination of intensive research experience early in the residency and sustained research exposure throughout the clinical years of training. Graduates of this program are exposed to the importance of sustained research programs for attaining lasting important understanding and are instilled with the concept of lifelong questioning as a source for personal educational development and as a vehicle for contributing to the advancement of biomedical knowledge. [unreadable] [unreadable]